The Carrion Saga
by Giant Wall
Summary: A pokemon tale that is far from the typical 'trainer' tale. A dark tale that touches upon magics and necromancy, as well as pokemon and battling. Follow as the OC delves deeper into the darkness of the Pokemon world
1. Chapter 1 Theft At The Museum

Jim yawned as he lent back on his chair. He hadn't been able to sleep during the day, a problem he often had when he was on late shifts at the museum, and was now struggling to keep his eyes on the security monitors.

As he rubbed his raw feeling eyes he decided that he needed yet another cup of coffee. Getting up he tickled his Growlithe, Sandy, behind the ears and headed over to the coffee machine. Lazily he shifted some mugs around until he found a clean one and poured himself a cup.

As he turned his foot hit something, almost sending him crashing to the floor. Looking down he saw his other pokemon, Secard the Shinx, looking up at him hurt. Apologizing under his breath Jim patted the Shinx on the head and settled down to his monitors again.

**********

Sometime later Jim awoke with a start, glancing around trying to remember his bearings. He cursed when he realized he had fallen asleep at work, an offense that had already seen him get one warning from the museums manager, and could well see him being dismissed if he was caught again.

Whilst Jim still considered himself young, 23 was no longer an age where unemployment looked attractive – he needed the job for his rent and modest lifestyle. Being a security guard at a museum was hardly glamorous, but it did allow him the finances to live a happy life.

He checked all the cameras, nothing was amiss and he had missed no alarms, for which he was thankful. But he also started to worry. Again he went over all the cameras but could see no problem,

'So what' he thought to himself 'has caused me to awaken so suddenly?'

Deciding that action was the best way to put his mind at ease he got to his feet and whistled. Instantly both his Pokemon were awaken from their own slumbers and came running over to stand expectantly in front of him.

'Come on then guys' Jim said to them 'time to do some rounds'. Arming himself with a flashlight Jim set off to do a round of the museum to make sure that there were no issues.

**************

Most of his rounds had been completed and Jim was starting to feel better.

'Must have been my imagination' he thought to himself 'no-one ever breaks in here'.

But then Sandy, the Growlithe, stopped in its tracks and started sniffing the air. A couple of seconds later Secard the Shinx did the same – and then started prowling over to the door that Jim was just about to walk past – the door to the library.

The library was one of the least visited attractions in the museum, containing a large selection of ancient books – mostly on dark subjects such as magics and sacrifice. With it attracting such little attention the museums limited security budget had never stretched in fitting the room with security cameras.

The nagging feeling that something was wrong came back to Jim in a heartbeat. Nervously he approached the door, his large torch held firmly in his hand, ready to be used as a weapon if needs be. Secard and Sandy crept on either side of him, neither making any noise.

Tentatively Jim tried the door handle, which should have been locked. But it swung open at his slight touch, evidence that it had been tampered with – Jim himself had locked it at the start of his night shift.

Swallowing loudly, Jim shone his torch into the room. Not seeing anything amiss he edged inside, Sandy and Secard in tow. As he crept in he heard a fluttering noise of air being disturbed, followed by a very human curse.

'Who goes there' Jim called out in what he hoped was an authoritative tone, but feared was feeble and scared sounding.

Rounding the corner of one of the bookshelves Jim saw two figures dressed in black, but with their faces uncovered, turn and look at him. Instantly Jim brought himself up to his full height, an impressive 6ft 4 – which with his muscular frame was one of the reasons he was hired as a security guard in the first place.

He had hoped seeing him at full size would scare the thieves off. But the closest of the two, very obviously a woman, with very full looking curves even in her loose fitting black clothing, instantly barked out an order

'Xexus – wing attack' and seemingly from nowhere an ink black shape shot out of the darkness of the room and sped towards Jim. Thankfully before he even had time to think Secard leapt in front of him, body sparkling with raw electric energy. The leap powered into the oncoming shape, which closer to the light of the torch was revealed to be a Murkrow.

Secards attack sent the black crow pokemon spinning to earth, whilst Secard landed on all fours in front of Jim, growling. Sandy, who had previously been under strict orders never to use any fire within the library, for fear of setting alight to the old, bone dry books, started giving off a large amount of heat, getting ready to attack if needed.

The woman in black put her hand out and a right light shot out, hitting her Murkrow and returning it to the pokeball.

'Leave it' said the figure behind her, the voice sounding like that of an older male. We have what we came for, let us leave. Golsun, Haze'

Jim realized that even when Murkrow hit the floor the beating of the air hadn't stopped. Looking up he could just make out the outline of a Golbat before it covered the entire room in a dark fog, which even with the light from his two pokemon, and his torch, Jim was unable to see through.

When the fog finally lifted the two figures had gone, presumably through the window as Jim had never moved enough away from the doorway to be sneaked passed.

Jim could see that a number of books had also gone. Ancient books from the dark magics section of the library. What they were wanted for he didn't know, nor did he care. Jim was more worried about what this theft meant to his job than he was about what books were missing.


	2. Chapter 2 The Interview

Jim slowly rubbed his temple with his fingers, trying to rub the stress from his mind. It had been 6 hours since the museum he was security at had been broken into. Whilst at first he thought that the fact that a few books on magic had been stolen wasn't an issue it seems the police didn't feel the same.

He looked up at the officer questioning him this time. He had gone through the same process three times in the last six hours, each time with different officers from a different department. This officer had the same look carved into her features as the others, doubting, accusing, and angry.

"So you are saying a Golbat used 'Haze' and then they were gone?" the officer asked, presumably knowing the answer had he had already told her.

"Yes" Jim replied

"And the name was Golsun?" she asked, again knowing the answer.

"Yes"

"So this man and this woman, did you get..." she was interrupted by another officer, Jim presumed it was an officer, stepped into the sparse interview room.

"Excuse me a moment" the female newcomer said to the officer interviewing him "I need a word".

His interviewing officer nodded, mouthed some legal jargon for the tape, and then stepped outside, giving Jim a chance to get his bearings.

'What' he wondered 'could possibly be so important about these books that they needed such interrogation'. He had presumed that he would have some questions to answer, and then tomorrow go up in front of the museums board and probably be sacked and looking for a new job... but this seemed like it was far more important.

Jim shut his eyes to block out the harsh, artificial light of the interview room. It's not like he needed to look around. Four chairs, a table, a tape deck and a mirror, that was presumably a one way window, were all that sat in the bleak room – a room he was very keen to leave.

The door opened again and the new officer came in alone. 'Tall for a lady' Jim thought, looking at her again. Her long brown hair framed a very young looking face, causing Jim to reassess whether she really was a officer, or simply a messenger constable.

"Hi Jim" she said "sorry for all the questioning. How are you doing? Can I get you anything, tea, coffee, water?"

"No thank, how long till I can go" He wasn't in the mood for small talk. Between all the questioning and the lights his head was starting to pound, he could almost hear his bed calling him.

"I know this is tough for you Jim, but this is important. We have seen what books were stolen and we have reason to believe that it was part of a crime syndicate. Similar thefts have been happening all over the Sinnoh region, and we think something very serious is happening."

This worried Jim. He thought he had simply been witness to a theft by some ancient book enthusiasts, or wannabe witches and magicians. Crime syndicates were well out of his sphere of knowledge.

"Ok" he said tentatively "how can I help?"

"I understand you saw the people involved, would you recognize them if you saw them again?"

"As I told the other police officers, I didn't get a good look at the man, but I would be able to spot the woman in a line up with no problems at all"

"Good, good." she said thoughtfully "though I am not a police officer"

Jim sat back in his chair, shocked for a moment.

"What do you mean?" he asked

"My name is Sandra Tolin, I am a member of the MPA – the Magic Prevention Agency. There is some real concern about what has been stolen and the intended use for it".

Jim laughed nervously, assuming it was some sort of cop humor. Magic prevention agency, whoever heard of anything so daft. Everyone knows that magic doesn't exist.

Sandra raised an eyebrow at Jim's laugh.

"I'm serious" she said "and I can prove it to you. I'm afraid you have got yourself caught up in something Jim, something that most people manage to go their whole lives without finding out. By being able to identify the people that stole those books you have made yourself a target to them, and they will do anything in their power to stop you being able to finger them to us"

Any trace of humor that Jim was feeling at the mention of magic was gone. He lent forward, elbows on the empty table, head in his hands.

"I'm a target?" he asked "what does that mean?"

"It means they want to kill you Jim, that they will hunt you down and quieten you in any way possible"

Jim's headache was getting worse, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He didn't believe in magic at all, but criminals that wanted him dead for witnessing their crime, that was something he could believe in all too easily.

"So what happens now?" he asked Sandra

"For now we put you into our witness protection program. I know you will have difficulty with all of this, including the magic side of things. But for now I ask you to trust me, we will show you what we need you to do when we get you to a safe house, and we will also arrange for a trained professional to explain to you the world of magic, a world you are likely unaware of"

She stood up, the legs of the chair making a sharp scraping noise as it slid backwards.

"Jim, you don't know how important you are to us right now. This is the first lead we have had on this syndicate since we became aware of their existence. Please trust me, you will come to understand what is happening in time".


	3. Chapter 3 The Safe House

Sandra was pouring over the contents of a book, brow furrowed in concentration, the wrinkled marks in stark contrast to her beautiful, youthful face. Carefully, almost reverently, she turned the yellowed, aged pages of the ancient book.

She was concerned. This one again was making references to what it called 'The Soul Book', one of the books that was stolen in the attack on the museum. This book was suggesting that the book contained secrets on control of souls after death, and how they could be used to strengthen magic.

The use of ghost pokemon, such as Gastly and Haunter, to increase magical power was nothing new – but then such pokemon were not real 'ghosts' as such, but pokemon formed from the release of powerful emotions combined with native magical energy. To be able to control real souls, that would strengthen a magical spell exponentially.

'After we deal with this' she thought 'some people are going to have to give some big answers, how could books so powerful be left unguarded'. Of course they weren't unguarded, such thoughts led her to think of Jim, the night security guard at the museum. Hardly an effective guard, with only a couple of untrained pokemon to help back him up, but somehow he had been the only person so far to see this new magical crime syndicate – and as such provided their only lead.

Sandra stood up, brushing her long brown hair away from her equally brown eyes. Glancing at her watch she realized she was already late for her meeting with Jim. He had been moved to one of their safe houses when they realized what he had witnessed. As the only living person who had witnessed a crime by the syndicate he was very likely a target, they had killed before and were therefore unlikely to have any qualms about doing so again.

Gathering her pokeballs from the heal machine she kept in her office Sandra attached them to her belt, picked up her Magic Prevention Agency Badge, and set off to the safe house to continue her questioning of Jim. Her research had led her to think that this syndicate were more dangerous than even she had first suspected.

************

He looked around the room, eyes darting nervously from shadow to shadow. Ever since his briefing by the Magic Prevention Agency, he still couldn't believe that there was such a thing as magic in the world – and had been offered little by proof, he had been jumpy. The idea that there were criminals on the hunt for him, wanting him dead, meant he was wary of every noise, shadow or movement.

Jim sat on the bed, after checking under it. Outside he knew there were 2 police officers guarding him, but that didn't make him feel any better.

'I wish I had decided to become a pokemon trainer' he thought ruefully. He had two pokemon, currently safe inside their pokeballs. But he had trained neither for combat, beyond some play fighting when he first got them on his 18th birthday from an uncle who felt he should at least have some pokemon.

Until now Jim had little interest in battling pokemon, or pokemon contests, or any of the other pokemon activities. He loved Secard, his shinx, and Sandy, his Growlithe, but he never felt the need to prove himself and his pokemon. Jim preferred to do as little as he possibly could. So long as his rent and bills were paid, and he had some socializing money left over, Jim was made.

Now that wasn't the case, and he wished that his two pokemon were expert battlers ready to defend him. Hell he wished he could have an army of pokemon ready to fight off any intruders. Secard had done well enough against the Murkrow, but Jim knew little about battling – indeed he only found out afterwards that what Secard had done was called a 'Spark' attack, and was a great move to pull off against the flying type Murkrow.

Knock, the door reverberated from a powerful thump.

'What was that?' Jim's mind was racing. 'Have they found me?' instantly his hand went to his belt, removing the two pokeballs. Enlarging them he released them into the room, just in front of him. Sandy and Secard both emerged in a blast of light. Both were instantly growling at the door, bodies locked into a battle ready pose.

"Who's there" Jim asked, nervously.

'Just me Jim' said a deep voice, Jim recognized it instantly as being that of David, the huge police officer. Jim was a big man, six foot four and broad of shoulder, but David dwarfed him by a good half a foot again, and had arms the size of trees. He made Jim feel a lot safer.

"Just to let you know Sandra's arrived, she's waiting for you in the front room".

Jim breathed a sigh of relief. Sandra was here. She had oozed an aura of calm when she spoke to him at the briefing, he made Jim feel a bit safer. Not safe, never that, but safer than he did otherwise.

Grinning at his own fear Jim stood up and walked to the door, both pokemon following loyally at his heels. He opened the door and was instantly looking up at the imposing David.

"Cm'on mun, she's waiting for you", David said in his deep sing-song accent.

As Jim walked into the front room - awfully decorated in green lace on the sofas, the table clothes, the curtains, everywhere – he saw her again, thumbing through some folders. She looked up as he entered and smiled. Jim couldn't help but smile back, and then chastised himself as he realized where his thoughts were heading – this was NOT the time to be thinking of romantic liaisons, he told himself.

"Sit, sit" Sandra said, patting the chair next to her "I just want to run some photos by you, see if you recognize any of the criminals we suspect might be involved."

"Ok" Jim said, parking himself next to her "I'm all yours". Again he cursed himself, a poor choice of words for someone who is trying to not be interested.

She grinned at that and lent forward to the folders on the green lace covered coffee table in front of her. But before she could remove the photos there was an almighty smash and all of a sudden Jim found himself showered with glass, small cuts opening up all over him...


	4. Chapter 4

Jim looked down on the small trickles of blood dripping from his cut cheek in surprise. His whole world had just become one of flying glass and loud noise, and he was struggling to get to grips with it.

Sandra reacted far quicker though. Diving behind the sofa she reached down to her belt and threw 3 pokeballs into the air. All 3 flew open, smoke releasing from them, followed by Pokemon bursting through in a bright light – the effect made if very hard to focus for a moment.

Instantly she called out to the deep purple Gengar who had emerged from one of the pokeballs

"Shadow, plan 3".

The Gengar nodded its head and faded into nothing, slipping from site. The other two Pokemon, a Xatu with a huge wingspan and one of the most beautiful Pokemon Jim had ever seen, a very pale looking Ninetails, stood ready to attack.

Jim's own Pokemon, Sandy the Growlithe and Secard the Shinx, jumped in front of him as well... sofa still between them and the window that had been shattered moments before.

As the smoke from Sandra's pokeballs drifted Jim was able to start making out shapes outside the house. As he was squinting through the slowly dissipating smoke a huge gust of wind rushed through the now empty window frame, forcing Jim to duck down in front of the sofa.

The gust cleared the smoke from the room, and once the job was done the wind stopped. Jim risked a moment to poke his head above the sofa and look outside, where two humans stood, dressed entirely in black, covering them from head to foot. Above them hovered a Skarmory, huge steel wings beating slowly, improbably managing to keep its giant weight airborne.

In front of them stood the very large mouthed Pokemon – Loudred. This Loudred looked especially menacing, being a least a half again the size of any of its type that Jim had seen on TV.

The Skarmory gave a large screech of noise from its shiny metallic beak and swooped down at the window. It's wings were far too wide to get through but rather than bounce off the wall, as Jim was hoping would happen to the bird Pokemon, its razor sharp wings tore through the bricks and window frame like they weren't there.

Sandra was quick off the mark though, and as the bird smashed through the wall her Ninetails leapt forwards

'flamethrower' she called, and her Ninetails responded instantly, a huge rush of searing hot flames rushing from its mouth and smashing into the metallic bird.

The Skarmory gave out a screech of pain but continued, slamming into the fire Pokemon, sending it reeling. But the confines of the house, and the burning attack it had taken, were too much for the Skarmory and, as it flew upwards to try escape, it smashed into the ceiling and fell down to Earth, twitching but obviously not able to take part in any sort of battle.

However the Loudred had taken advantage of the confusion its battle mate had caused and had leapt through the now destroyed window area and as Jim and Sandra turned their attention to it the loud voiced Pokemon lived up to its name by issuing a huge sound of deafening proportions.

The sound was so great Jim was unable to think. Hitting the floor with his hands over his ears all he could do was writhe in agony, his two Pokemon next to him. Sandra was fairing little better, herself down on her knees whilst both her Ninetails and her Xatu were also forced from their feet.

Eventually though the Loudred had to stop for breath and, oddly as far as Jim could see, started stamping its feet in what he would, in other circumstances, have called a comic way. It was in that moment Secard, his Shinx, surprised him. Reacting quicker than even Sandra's Pokemon he leapt forward, fur again sparking with electricity, and hammered into the Loudred, sending it stumbling backwards, off balance.

Sandra saw her chance,

'Falto' she called 'physic'. The Xatu didn't move from its position on the floor, but its eyes started to glow an odd purple color. Suddenly the Loudred squealed in paid and collapsed to its knees, hands holding its head.

At that moment the door from the hallway where the two policemen were burst open, and through it ran three more black clad people, gender almost impossible to tell under the loose fitting black clothing.

'Come on' Sandra shouted to Jim, ears still not right and making her voice far too loud 'quickly, we need to get out of here'.

She took a few steps towards the bewildered Jim, grabbed him by the collar and yanked him around the sofa and towards the gaping hole in the wall. He finally cottoned on to what Sandra was doing and started running of his own accord, Secard and Sandy following close behind.

From her own point of view Sandra recalled her Xatu and Ninetails into their pokeballs whilst running at full pace. As they got through the hole in the wall Jim remembered that the two that they had battled were just here, but Sandra was aware and turned sharply once through the hole and sprinted to the side gate, with the two previous opponents shouting and chasing after them, followed closely by the 3 that had just appeared in the house.

Jim and Sandra, as well as Jim's Pokemon, made it through the side gate ahead of the chasing opponents and Sandra led him down a side alleyway, before ducking through what looked to be a solid wall.

'shh' she told him, indicating not to make a noise...


End file.
